The Internet of Things (IoT) includes the networking of physical or smart devices containing electronics, software, sensors, actuators, and network connectivity enabling the smart devices to collect and exchange data. Such smart devices find use throughout the modern world, including in smart energy distribution grids, smart homes and commercial buildings, intelligent transportation, autonomous vehicles, and smart cities. Each smart device is uniquely identifiable through an embedded computing system and interoperates with other smart devices via the Internet. The IoT extends connectivity beyond machine to machine (M2M) communications to include a variety of protocols, domains, and applications.
The use of the term “things” is indicative of the wide variety of communications capable and/or Internet connected smart devices. Such smart devices include, but are not limited to fields as diverse as biomedical monitoring, livestock transponders, biodiversity and environmental health monitoring. The volume and variety of smart devices will generate a large volume of data from diverse locations.
Although the following Detailed Description will proceed with reference being made to illustrative embodiments, many alternatives, modifications and variations thereof will be apparent to those skilled in the art.